Method-of and means



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.4

R. s. JENN'LINGS.

METHGD 0F AND MEANS POR TREATING AIR FORY DRYING PURPOSES. No. 303,162. Patented Aug, 5, 884.

rw W m Ill HK :1M i IIIHI liv( l) Wi; [im

A 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. R. JENNINGS. Y

METHOD F AND MEANS FOR TRBATING AIR yFOR DRYING PURPOSES, No. 303,162. Patented Aug. 5,1884.

e 'HHHHI'H (No Mdel.)

' Application filed June Q3, 15E-S2. `(No model.) Patented in England September 23, 1238-2, No. iill; in GermanySeptemhor QG, 1882. No. 22,666, in Belgium September Q6, rss2, No.

' ,Unirse Srafrss harem @tries RALPH S. JENNINGS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

METHOD 0F AND MEANSY FOR TBEATlNG AIR FOR DRYING PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 303,162. dated August 5, 1884.

4,546; in France September 2G, 18132, No. 59120, and in Newfoundland February fnl Improvement in Means or Apparatusl for .lreatingAtmospheric A ir to Render it Useful in the Arts as a Drier; and I do hereby declare the same to be'deseribcd in the following speci iication and represen ted in the accompanying drawings, ot which- Figures 1 and 2 are sectional elevations of two forms or constructions of apparatus einbracing my invention.

In Figs. l and 2 of the drawings, A. represents a furnace for heating` air, such furnace having immediately over its fire-place a: a chamber, u, over which is a smoke-receiving chambcrJ, provided with a discharge flue or pipe, c. From the tire-chamber a series of pipes, d, of iron er other oxidizable material extend to the smolteehamber and upward through the chamber a., the whole being so arranged that the smoke and volatile products of combustion from the lire-place, when the furnace maybe in operation, shall tlow through the pipes d and .into the smoke-chamber.

In Fie. l a pipe, e, is shown as leading out olf the upper part ofthe chamber a aud into a Serpentine coil or pipe, f, arranged within a ease, Il, which at its lower part is provided with one or more air-inlets, g. Out of the upper part of the case I3 a pipe, 71., leads to the lower part of the chamber fr.. Furthermore, the coil f at its lower end communicates with a blower, C, for drawing air from the coil and discharging it, by an educt, z', into the vertical tubular shaft l.' ol' a rotary fan, l). This i'an is provided with a series of wings or vanos, l, arranged radially to the said sl'iaft k. Be tween those wings there project from the shaft aseries of curved educts, fm, from which, when the fan maybe in revolution, air from the shaft is discharged against the varies Z, in order'for it to be deflected from and thrown off by them or diffused to advantage into the drying room or apartment E, in which the fan may be situated. In the lower part of the said apartment is a perforated or foraminous auxiliary floor, n. A blower,

F, is to comniunr cate with the space 0 beneath the auxiliary floor, the ed notion-pipe p of said blower being extended upward, as represented.

From the above it will be seen that when there may be fuel in combustion in the tireplace of the furnace land the two blowers and the rotary fau are put in operation by power suitably applied to them, the pipes d are raised to such a temperature that they become oxidized by taking oxygen from the moisture. The remaining cons f tuent of the moisture with t-he heated air will he the tubular coil, and will heat it, whereby it will be caused to heat the air that maybe iiowing through the coil-case, which air thus heated will be drawn out of the upper part of suoli case, and into and through the moisture-decomposing chamber a. The air and gases reduced to a low temperature-say about 1.000

Fahrenheit, or lessif required-will by the blower be extracted from the coil and driven into and out ol' the lan-shaft. The fan in revolving will diffuse the air through the drying-room and upon the goods, articles, or materials therein to be dried. The air, charged with moisture rapidly evaporated from such s materials, will be extracted from the dryingapartment by the cxhaustingblower. In this way atmospheric air charged with humidity can have the latter decomposed, and with the air be economically utilized, as stated.

A In Fig. 2 the coil and its case are not represented, the exhaust-blower of such, as shown in Fig. 1, being exhibited as communicating by a pipe, lr, with the upper part of the airheatiug chamber of the furnace. The rotary i'au ofthe dryi ng-chamber is without the curved eduet-s to its hollow shalt, which is open at its upper end in order that the air may escape therefrom between the vanes of and be diffused or thrown from them while they may be in revo lution. The shaft may, however, be provided with lateral educts.

It is obvious that il by frequent use the pipes d become damaged through oxidation, new ones may be inserted. I

As this case, 'so far as the process is concerned, relates to the removal ofmoisture from the air by causing the decomposition of said driven into and through 1 the drying-room, so that by this process there are no particles of deleterious matter taken up to affect the materials which are being dried.

Y I do not in this case claim any of the matters which are claimed in my other pending moisture by means of very highly-heated mel applications, Yrespectively numbered 73,148,

tallic surfaces, I do notherein claim the process of removing moisture from the air by first heating the air and said moisture and subsequently condensing the moisture therefrom, or the process of heating the air to lower the relative humidity, and then cooling to allow an accurate and convenient regulation ofthe temperature, as I have made these features the subject-matter of another application for patent which I have filed, Serial No. S6,026,f1led February 23, 1883. the apparatus herein shown might be employed regardless of the special features of any particular process, and therefore in the claims relating to the apparatus I do not wish to be limited to the special process made the subjectmatter hereof.

I am aware of the fact that use has been heretofore made of devices for accomplishing the following` results in succession, namely: first heating air, then passing it throughlime, then cooling` the air, then again passing it through lime in order that it may be disinfected, andI do not claim such process or apparatus as my invention; but itis well known to those acquainted with the matter of drying that the use of hygroscopie agents*such as lime, sulphuric acid, &c.--are very objectionable, not only on account of the fact that they tend to charge the air with particles of a character such that they are very deleterious when coming in contact with delicate materials to be dried, but also from the fact that their use renders it impossible to treat a large volume of air rapidly, as the same cannot be forced through them by any known means, except upon a scale so small that the apparatus is not efficient for drying purposes. In my case the air is heated not for the purpose of merely affecting the spores of organic matter which may be therein contained, but heated sufficiently high to decompose the moisture therein contained, and after leaving the heater it is carried not to a mass of lime, but, in the condition in which it leaves the furnace, is taken directly to the cooler, and in the condition in which it leaves the cooler is taken directly to It will be seen, however, that v 121,424, 124,692, preferring to claim herein only the matters set forth in the following claims, and reserving to myself the right to claim in said other applications the matters therein shown and claimed.

That I claim as my invention is as follows, viz:

described and not herein.

1. vIn an apparatus for preparing air to be used for drying or treating materials in an inclosedv apartment, the combination of'an air-heater, an air-cooler outside of the furnace, an unobstructed duct between the heater and the cooler, which` carries the air in the condition it leaves the furnace directly to the cooler, and an unobstructed duct which carries the air from the. cooler directly to the aforesaid apartment in the condition in which it leaves the cooler, substantially as set forth.

2. In an apparatus for drying moist articles, the combination of an air-heating furnace, the cooling-chamber outside of the furnace, the interior duct within-said coolingchamber, the ducts which carry the air directly from the furnace to the cooler, and the eX- haust-fan which draws the air from the cooler, substantially as set forth.

3. The herein-described method or process of preparing air to be used in drying or treating materials, it consisting in subjecting the air to the action of highly-heated metallic surfaces, whereby the decomposition of the moisture can be effected, then carrying the air through an unobstructed duct in the condition in which it leaves the heater directly into contact with cooling-surfaces outside of the furnace, then delivering the air, after being sufficiently cooled, directly into the apartment where the articles are being dried, substantially as set forth.

4. The herein-described method or process of treating the air, it consisting in first heating said air and then passing it through a duct or ducts outside of the furnace, which are kept at a low temperature by means of other currents of air outside of said duct or ducts, substantially as set forth.

. RALPH S. JENNINGS.

Vitnesses:

R. H. EDDY, E. B. PRATT.

rooY 

